When the head of the department found out I had knowledge of ancient Roman pottery I was enrolled into the Finds Department, where I was able to study the pottery as far back as the Neolithic period. This was one of the most exciting times of my life.

The dig site at this time was the archaeology of the Droitwich Salt Industry where pottery from most ancient times have been found, besides many other interesting items such as leather shoes from the mid-18th century, medieval wooden implements used for bringing salt to the edge of the pan with other kinds used for stirring the brine during boiling, and even a silver penny of Alfred the Great circa AD875 - AD880.

The picture above shows a reconstruction of an Iron Age Salt working scene. Based on excavations at the Old Bowling Green site.

We even found gold coins like the one illustrated to the right, but it was the pottery I was mostly interested in even though I had to catalogue all items found.

There was a special pot called a Briquetage which was used to store salt. In total I worked 10 years for Hereford and Worcester Archaeology.

Upon retirement I immigrated to the island of Crete where, not far from my village, there was a study centre. I couldn't resist paying a visit. Once again I was hooked because I now wanted to learn about the Bronze Age Minoan and Mycenaean cultures and their pottery. I immediately volunteered to work part time.

My background was enough to be accepted, and it has since taken me 10 years to achieve a working knowledge of Ancient Greek pottery which has now led me to the study of the Minoan and Mycenaean Ancient script writings called Linear A and Linear B.

I have completed the Mycenaean Linear B study and am now in the process of learning the Minoan Linear A.

The picture above shows some Linear B writing. The top line translates as 'Rams 78', and the bottom line 'Tano onato' (onato is a lease field). "Tanos has 78 rams on a lease field".

To some, archaeology is not a very interesting subject, and for others, learning a new language is too hard. Can you imagine what you might discover written in a language that has been dead for centuries? It conjours up some very interesting possibilities, doesn't it?

Many thanks to Rita (@cumtudu) for providing me with the content.